Declining Stock and Decent Financials: Is The Market Wrong About Vossloh AG (ETR:VOS)?
It is hard to get excited after looking at Vossloh's (ETR:VOS) recent performance, when its stock has declined 5.3% over the past three months. However, the company's fundamentals look pretty decent, and long-term financials are usually aligned with future market price movements. Particularly, we will be paying attention to Vossloh's ROE today.
Return on Equity or ROE is a test of how effectively a company is growing its value and managing investors’ money. Simply put, it is used to assess the profitability of a company in relation to its equity capital.
Check out our latest analysis for Vossloh
How Do You Calculate Return On Equity?
The formula for ROE is:
Return on Equity = Net Profit (from continuing operations) ÷ Shareholders' Equity
So, based on the above formula, the ROE for Vossloh is:
9.0% = €56m ÷ €626m (Based on the trailing twelve months to March 2023).
The 'return' refers to a company's earnings over the last year. That means that for every €1 worth of shareholders' equity, the company generated €0.09 in profit.
What Has ROE Got To Do With Earnings Growth?
So far, we've learned that ROE is a measure of a company's profitability. Based on how much of its profits the company chooses to reinvest or "retain", we are then able to evaluate a company's future ability to generate profits. Assuming everything else remains unchanged, the higher the ROE and profit retention, the higher the growth rate of a company compared to companies that don't necessarily bear these characteristics.
Vossloh's Earnings Growth And 9.0% ROE
At first glance, Vossloh seems to have a decent ROE. Be that as it may, the company's ROE is still quite lower than the industry average of 12%. However, we are pleased to see the impressive 24% net income growth reported by Vossloh over the past five years. We believe that there might be other aspects that are positively influencing the company's earnings growth. For instance, the company has a low payout ratio or is being managed efficiently. Bear in mind, the company does have a respectable ROE. It is just that the industry ROE is higher. So this also does lend some color to the high earnings growth seen by the company.
Next, on comparing with the industry net income growth, we found that Vossloh's growth is quite high when compared to the industry average growth of 0.5% in the same period, which is great to see.
Earnings growth is an important metric to consider when valuing a stock. What investors need to determine next is if the expected earnings growth, or the lack of it, is already built into the share price. By doing so, they will have an idea if the stock is headed into clear blue waters or if swampy waters await. Has the market priced in the future outlook for VOS? You can find out in our latest intrinsic value infographic research report.
Is Vossloh Using Its Retained Earnings Effectively?
Vossloh has a significant three-year median payout ratio of 57%, meaning the company only retains 43% of its income. This implies that the company has been able to achieve high earnings growth despite returning most of its profits to shareholders.
Besides, Vossloh has been paying dividends for at least ten years or more. This shows that the company is committed to sharing profits with its shareholders. Upon studying the latest analysts' consensus data, we found that the company's future payout ratio is expected to drop to 38% over the next three years. However, the company's ROE is not expected to change by much despite the lower expected payout ratio.
Summary
In total, it does look like Vossloh has some positive aspects to its business. Namely, its significant earnings growth, to which its moderate rate of return likely contributed. While the company is paying out most of its earnings as dividends, it has been able to grow its earnings in spite of it, so that's probably a good sign. Having said that, the company's earnings growth is expected to slow down, as forecasted in the current analyst estimates. To know more about the company's future earnings growth forecasts take a look at this free report on analyst forecasts for the company to find out more.
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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
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